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Have you heard this story before? How sad...

GOTLAND, Sweden -- It's been called one of the worst
cases of government abuse ever committed against a home schooling
family: the abduction by Swedish authorities of Domenic Johansson, a
happy, healthy, 7-year-old boy taken from his parents Christer and Annie
Johansson in 2009 as they waited to leave Sweden on a flight to India.

After the abduction, the Johanssons' story spread quickly on the Internet.

But three years later, Domenic is still being kept
from his parents, and Swedish authorities keep finding new reasons for
why the child can't go home.

The Abduction

"This is about the most fundamental right you have.
You have the right to your own children, or you should have," Christer
told CBN News during the first television interview he and his wife have
given since their only child's abduction.

In 2008, Christer and Annie were making plans to leave Sweden for humanitarian work in Annie's native India.

They decided it would be best for Domenic to be
home-schooled during the final months before their departure, rather
than enroll him in public school.

Christer says Sweden's Ministry of Education told
him they could home-school, but local officials levied steep fines and
threatened the couple to discourage them from doing so.

Then, as the parents sat on a plane at Stockholm
airport for their scheduled trip to India, police came aboard and took
Domenic away.

"They took Domenic from the plane," Christer
recalled. "Then he threw up until they took him to ER. That's how severe
the trauma is. If someone throws up so you have to take him to the
hospital, that's severe."

"I have no clue what went on," Annie added. "There
was just a stampede. My child had no clue, and I have no clue still
what's going on. I can just hear the screams of my child all the time."

Cat and Mouse

According to Christer, the couple was supposed to
have Domenic back a few days later. But when they went to pick him up,
authorities changed their story.

Officials decided Domenic was "at risk," because he
had cavities and did not have every recommended vaccination. They also
noted he was shy.

Gotland Social Services then found more problems --
claiming the Johanssons' home didn't have enough furniture, and that
Christer was a drug addict with a mental illness, even though he passed a
drug test and psychiatric examination.

"I went to psychiatric clinic and said, 'Check me
thoroughly,' and they did. So I took that paper to court and it had no
effect whatsoever," Christer recalled. "I said, 'I'm healthy,' but the
Social Services and Social Services' lawyer said 'No, you are suffering
from personality disorder.'"

Social Services said Domenic was developmentally
delayed, although videos show him flying a plane on a flight simulator
before being abducted at age 7, and also speaking clear English.

Authorities were also disturbed that Domenic was too
affectionate with other children, greeting his friends with a hug and
kiss on the cheek. They called this "deviant behavior."

Christer was then labeled a "human rights fanatic."

Christer said authorities have resisted all attempts
to reunite the family. And evidence showing that the pair are good
parents has been completely ignored.

"It doesn't matter if we have professors or doctors to speak for us. It just doesn't matter," he said.

Swedish Soviet Union?

Exasperated,
Christer brought Domenic home without permission in Nov. 2010. Police
then raided their home with guns and dogs and took Domenic away again.
Christer was put in jail for two months.

"The Domenic Johansson case is the home-school
tragedy of Sweden. I believe this was simply a mistake," Jonas
Himmelstrand, who heads the Swedish Homeschooling Association (Rohus), told CBN News.

"Officials didn't realize they couldn't take a child
on home schooling charges alone. So after they took him, they invented
all kinds of other reasons -- and also pride, which is well-known among
Swedish authorities, that once they've made a mistake to never admit
it," he said.

Michael Donnelly, an attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association,
which is helping the Johanssons, said, "It's astonishing to me that
free governments who know about this case have not done more.

Donnelly compared the Swedish government's behavior to the Soviet Union.

"This local government, backed up now by Swedish
courts, have demonstrated that they are capable of visiting the most
totalitarian acts on their own citizens, reminiscent of the Soviet Union
and communist countries in recent history," Donnelly said.

The Emotional Fallout

Annie and Christer were only allowed to visit
Domenic for one hour every five weeks, but even that has stopped.
Christer said the son who so obviously loved his parents before the
abduction, now no longer wants to see them.

"We haven't had any contact with him since Nov. 2010
- not a phone call, not one. We don't know how he is. We don't know
anything," Christer said.

Annie suffered an emotional breakdown after the abduction and now suffers from panic attacks when she talks about what happened.

The Gotland Social Services Board has told the media
that secrecy prevents it from discussing the case. But Sweden's
ambassador to the United States has defended his government's actions.

Meanwhile, the Johanssons' attorney Ruby
Harrold-Claesson says the police abduction of Domenic from the plane was
illegal, and another court hearing is scheduled for May.

But photos of Domenic before and after the abduction
show what Christer describes as boy who has already been "broken into a
million pieces." Annie and Christer keep hoping this nightmare will
end.

"How can you live without your children?" Annie
asked. "It's devastated our life. This has in fact devastated everything
in our life."

Yes, it had a huge impact on the homeschooling community a few years ago. I'm so sad to hear that they still haven't got him back. I don't know if there is more to the story or what. It's just so horrible.

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